


Common Ground

by Severina



Category: Stargate Universe
Genre: Community: smallfandomfest, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-13
Updated: 2015-06-13
Packaged: 2018-04-04 05:56:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4127512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Severina/pseuds/Severina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Okay," Eli blurted out, "are you two actually an item?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Common Ground

**Author's Note:**

> Written for LJ's smallfandomfest for the prompt 'connection'. A sequel of sorts to [Thin Line](http://archiveofourown.org/works/3721669), but you don't have to read the first story to understand this one. :)
> 
> * * *

Eli tried to concentrate on his work. He kept his head down, his focus on the screen. He most definitely did not think about all the rumours that had been flying around Destiny in the last few weeks. Because those rumours were ridiculous.

Just because Chloe and Matt had broken up, that didn't mean that she was… that it was even possible for her to be interested in… No. No matter what anyone said, there was no way in hell that Rush and Chloe were together. Not like that.

He frowned down at the screen, staring blindly at the analysis in front of him and absolutely not darting a sideways glance every time Chloe moved. Once to push her long hair back out of her eyes. Once to pause, chewing at her bottom lip and tapping long fingers against her console before continuing on. Once to stop entirely, her brow furrowed, then to cross lightly to Rush's station.

She bent, her head close to his as she murmured something in his ear. He nodded back, pointed at the screen, and it would all be perfectly normal where it not for the way that Chloe's hand curled around his bicep, or the way that Rush's eyes softened when he looked at her, a smile playing at his lips when she turned away and walked back to her own console. 

Eli shook his head. It couldn't be. 

He squared his shoulders, resolute. The interface room was quiet save for the occasional tapping of a button and the soft hiss of the intake vents. The silence was perfect for his concentration. There was no current crisis, no alien attack, no desperate need for food or water, no broken-down equipment in desperate need of a fix, certainly no one jabbering in his ear. He could finally narrow down the problem with the shield transfer capacity because there was nothing else to demand his attention, nothing else to take him away from his work, nothing else to—

"Okay," Eli blurted out, "are you two actually an item?"

"Yup," Chloe answered without looking up from her screen.

Eli blinked, her matter-of-fact reply throwing him for a loop. He realized he'd been expecting her to laugh, for Rush to bark at him to keep his mind on his work and out of the gutter. He lifted a hand, waved it lankly in the air. "But I thought that was a just… like a ploy because of that whole thing with—"

"Nope," Chloe said.

"Huh." Eli blinked again and turned his attention back to his analysis, but if he'd thought it was difficult to concentrate before the whole thing was about a thousand times worse now. Chloe's confirmation of the rampant speculation only freed his mind to go places it really shouldn't go, and closing his eyes didn't help to quell the images at all. Chloe and Rush. Chloe and _Rush_. He didn't want to think about it, so of course it was all he could think about. He shuddered, unable to stop himself from turning back to her. "Don't you think that's a little… weird?"

She glanced up at him then. "No. Why would you think it's weird?"

He heard Rush sigh from the other console, and glanced over in time to see him rub a hand wearily across his forehead. "Don't get him started, Chloe."

"Oh no, I want to hear this," she answered. "Why is it weird, Eli?"

Eli dragged his gaze back to her. The full force of her stare, blue eyes wide and unblinking, combined with the dryness of her delivery should have warned him to quit while he was… well, not ahead, but not about to be annihilated, at any rate. Chloe Armstrong was intimidating when she wanted to be (and that look was also oddly arousing, but he pushed that thought hastily to the back of his mind, locked away until it could be safely dredged up when he was in the privacy of his quarters.) But he had a point to make, he reminded himself, and he was not about to be dissuaded from making it even if she did make his throat go dry and his knees feel weak.

"Well," he said, "there's the whole age thing."

Chloe lifted a brow. "The age thing."

"He's old enough to be your father," he said. When Chloe only raised her brow even further, he looked to Rush. "You have to admit you're old enough to be her father!"

Rush inclined his head. "I do so admit." 

"What does that have to do with anything?" Chloe said. "Successful relationships aren't based on the numbers on a birth certificate, Eli. Common goals, mutual trust, similar interests, effective communication – those are the things that make a relationship work. Not some numbers on a piece of paper."

"Yeah," Eli said, crossing his arms at his chest, "and do you think your mom would agree with that?"

"Considering my mother is a million light years away, I don't think she gets to have any opinion on the matter," Chloe answered. "But yes, I think she would. She was fifteen years younger than my Dad, you know."

"Oh," Eli faltered. "No, I didn't actually… know that," he said. 

"Now you do."

"Fine," he conceded, smiling grimly when another thought occurred, "maybe age doesn't affect a…"

"Connection," Chloe supplied.

"Whatever, a connection between two people. But it does affect something else," he said. He lifted his chin, nodded sagely, sure of himself this time. "What about babies?"

"No no no," Rush muttered.

"Ah ha!" Eli stabbed a finger in the air. "See? Babies are an issue. What if you get pregnant?"

"A woman doesn't just _get_ pregnant," Chloe said with a snort. Her eyes sparkled, and Eli found his shoulders slumping, the wind rushing out of his sails at her look of amusement. "There's an actual process involved. If you'd like I can explain it to you later. I could have Nick draw you a diagram, even."

"I could do that," Rush said. "I'll use little stick figures to keep it simple for you, Eli." 

"Not too little," Chloe murmured, with a glance at Rush that Eli could only describe as 'sultry'.

"Oh my god!" Eli screeched, throwing up his hands. "See, this is weird!"

"It's only weird because you're making it weird," Chloe said patiently. "Nick and I love each other. What's so hard to understand?"

Eli huffed out a breath, abandoning his own console to make his way over to her. If she didn't get it, he was just going to have to make himself abundantly clear. "But Chloe," he said, lowering his voice, eyeing Rush carefully before speaking. "It's… it's _Rush._ "

"Yes," she said with a smile, "I'm well aware."

"But… he's… he's rude! And short-tempered. And… and arrogant!"

"And sweet and kind and gentle," Chloe said.

"And able to hear every word you're saying," Rush put in gruffly. 

Eli jerked away, shaking his head. "Fine. _Fine!_ Play happy house with Rush. See if I care."

"Fine," Chloe answered.

He strode quickly back to his console and turned his attention back to his data analysis. Clearly burying himself in his work was the way to go. He couldn't think about this anymore or he just might go insane. "Just don't start making out on the bridge, all right?" he muttered. "I don't think any of us could take it."

"Noooo," Rush said quickly. "That's not going to happen."

"It could," Chloe said.

Eli looked up sharply, sure that the startled look on his face matched the one he saw on Rush's. 

"What?" Chloe said innocently. "It could. I could just sidle over—"

"Chloe," Rush warned.

"Wrap my arms around his shoulders—"

Eli felt like he should look away as she matched words to deeds, but couldn't seem to force his eyes away from the sway of her hips or the playfully seductive look in her eyes. He swallowed nervously as she ran her fingers through the hair on the nape of Rush's neck, fully expecting the other man to impatiently push her away. This was _Rush_ , after all. But while Rush definitely looked tense, he made no move to dislodge her.

"And then," Chloe finished, "I could just plant one on him."

Rush stiffened as she did just that, and Eli remembered himself in time to close his eyes quickly. He calculated pi to the twenty fifth decimal and then added ten more decimals for good measure before he finally opened them again, only to discover that Rush – Rush! – had gone pliant in Chloe's arms, leaning into the kiss, his hands resting lightly at her waist. He looked away again as fast as he could, but he was still almost certain there was tongue involved.

He curled his fingers into his palms and thought deliberately of absolutely nothing at all until he heard Chloe clear her throat, and even then he only risked squinching one eye open. 

Rush's arm sloped around Chloe's waist, a hand wrapped proprietarily over the curve of her hip. Chloe's palm pressed flat against his chest as she rested against him. He gulped dryly when he noticed the plumpness of her lips, the way her eyes went soft and warm when she glanced up at the other man. She looked… happy, and he hadn't recalled her looking that way in a long time. 

"You know what else makes for a successful relationship, Eli?" Rush asked. "Sexual compatibility."

"Oh god," Eli muttered, the spell broken. "Okay, that's it, I'm done."

"You've got that analysis--" Chloe began.

"I'll finish it in the morning!" Eli said over his shoulder as he stomped away. He stopped to slam his palm against the door closure as he left, the clatter just catching and then cutting off the sound of laughter coming from the interface room.

He shook his head as he strode toward his quarters, his steps slowing as he thought about the contented look in Chloe's eyes, the clearly besotted way that Rush looked at her. And laughter, coming from Rush of all people. He realized suddenly that it had been _days_ since Rush had snapped at him, too. 

Maybe, he had to admit, this whole thing between Rush and Chloe wasn't so bad.

But he still didn't want to think about it.


End file.
